Trashers faced an early thaw

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Brian Koonz THE NEWS-TIMES

Published 1:00 am, Wednesday, June 14, 2006

DANBURY - Although the Danbury Trashers didn't officially suspend operations until Monday night, the team started looking into the scenario a month ago, the same time the Trashers were playing in the Colonial Cup playoffs.

According to
United Hockey League
officials, the Trashers first broached the idea in early May during league meetings at UHL headquarters in Lake St. Louis, Mo. The Trashers were represented at the meetings by general manager
Tom Elia
.

"The first time that it was really, seriously talked about was at the league meetings," UHL spokesman
Brian Werger

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said Tuesday. "They were genuinely concerned about Adirondack not coming back.

"At that point, the Trashers told us if Adirondack did not come back, it would be extremely difficult for them to come back because of the travel requirements."

As it turned out, the Trashers and the Adirondack Frostbite both suspended operations for the 2006-07 season Monday night.

Suddenly, four of the five teams that played in the UHL's Eastern Division last year - the Trashers, the Frostbite, the Richmond RiverDogs and the Roanoke Valley Vipers - are ancient history.

Faced with the prospect of playing 38 road games next year - Danbury's closest rival would have been the Elmira (N.Y.) Jackals some 230 miles away - the Trashers would've had to make repeated, cost-prohibitive trips to the Midwest to play the likes of the Muskegon Fury in Michigan and the Fort Wayne Komets in Indiana.

For Adirondack, the decision to suspend operations came after the team lost its lease in Glens Falls, N.Y., and failed to find new owners to replace ESPN personalities

For the Trashers, the decision to suspend operations came three days after team owner
James Galante
was arrested on a 72-count indictment. Federal officials have accused Galante of racketeering, extortion, witness tampering and circumventing the UHL's salary cap, among other charges.

Although Trashers president A.J. Galante declined to address the charges against his father, he confirmed the role that Adirondack played in the fall of Danbury's franchise.

"We knew that our fate really depended on Adirondack and vice versa," Galante said Tuesday night, his first public comments since his father was arrested. "It was a double-edged sword for us. We needed them as much as they needed us. It was a great rivalry for both teams.

"But right now, I've got a lot going on. It's been a difficult time for my family. We've just got to be strong for my father," Galante added. "It's been a rough week or so. But my dad always taught me that when times get hard, you have to be strong. I have faith in the future. I know that everything is going to be OK."

Whether or not the Trashers return in 2007-08 will start to take shape next week in Las Vegas at the UHL's annual board of governors meeting. The board is comprised of owners or general managers from each team.

"The future of the Trashers is really up in the air at this point, in terms of whether or not they come back for the 2007-08 season," Werger said. "The team could stay dark. It could be sold. It could be relocated. There are several different options."

While Werger would not comment on federal allegations that Galante circumvented the league's salary cap, he did say other teams that have blatantly ignored the cap have paid the price.

"It has happened before, but we don't make those references public. It's always handled internally at the league office," Werger explained. "But I can tell you we had one instance a few years ago when one team paid a fine between $10,000 and $25,000."

Werger also said it's critical to understand the UHL has a soft salary cap. If teams exceed the cap, but are forthright, they simply pay a luxury tax of $2 to the league for every $1 they spend over $275,000.

"Right now, we're just waiting to see what happens with Mr. Galante in the court system," Werger said. "Once they settle that, we'll have a much better idea of where this is all going to go."

For now, the future is blurry at best for A.J. Galante.

"A couple of weeks ago, we were in the (Colonial Cup) finals, and now, everything has changed so much," Galante said. "I really don't think it's hit me yet, but I'm sure that it will. Really, I'm just trying to oversee what my dad has spent 30 years building.

"As far as the future of the Trashers, if it could work and my dad was behind it, then I'd be behind it. It's a shame because I think the team was starting to get some momentum. I was starting to get some momentum. But now, it's like the carpet has been pulled out from underneath us."